This show is hands down (or hands up) the best show on television right now. I was supremely happy with season 2 of Fargo and will miss it while it is gone, apparently, for quite awhile. It will not return until 2017.
Let's start with Peggy. I loved the arc her character took and I'm a little bit surprised. I kind of think most people are. If you had asked me a few weeks ago if I thought her character would be the one leaving me thinking, I'm not sure I would have even considered it. However, due to Kirsten Dunst's performance this episode, I was left thinking about the complexity of her situation.
While women's issues today are clearly not where they should be, it is still leaps and bounds from where it was in the 70's. Shoot, I was born in 1976 and I was not expected to go to college, but my twin brother was. My father was an electrician in Michigan and my mom was a stay at home mother. My dad was a very, very good person. However, it did not dawn on him that a girl would go to college.
Which leads me to the thread Fargo weaved. The expectations of women and their role in society changed heavily in the 70's to 90's. Betsy and Peggy reflect this. They reflect the most basic types of ideas for women. Betsy is content to be a stay at home mom. She's anglicized by the men around her. She is written as a good, wonderful woman. Peggy is corrupt and evil - she wants more than the town butchery. Betsy, despite dying from cancer, still takes care of her men. I love the scene in the finale when Lou and Hank come in the door. The expectation is, this woman, despite being on her deathbed, will get them a beer. Because they are men. There is no mutual back and forth in that regard - housework, meals, care-taking. It's almost like it does not occur to them to get their own. Does this make Lou and Hank bad men? No. But it was a subtle, quiet illustration of the thinking in the 70's. I thought it was very well done.
Now, on the flip side of that, Peggy wants more. She is not context with small town life, small town wife duties. While this alone would throw a wrench into things, she happens to also be completely nuts. She is completely irrational and delusional about how to go about gaining her independence. What the show does well, is exploit both what is right about her thinking and what is wrong. Peggy is right when she is in the car talking to Lou about expectations and feeling trapped. It was in fact, the time of Prozac for women to deal with their housewife blues. However, when Lou yells at her that people are dead -- he too is right. He's right to not coddle her delusions that somehow everything was fine because she only had the best intentions - you know, it just got a wee-bit messy in the end. Yet, I was left pondering how Lou, regardless of being totally justified in his no-tolerance attitude, was a little angry even at the thought of her notion? A woman? Working outside of the home? Wanting more than her small town? Yeah, fine, if she still manages her family, but never, ever at the expense of her womanly duties.
I think the beautiful arc to Lou, developed in season 1, is that by raising Molly by himself, he gained a new attitude toward the rights of women. Once he became a single father of a daughter, he only wanted the best for her, and she would not be restrained in a man's world. Well, even though Lou did mention to Molly in the restaurant that perhaps she might prefer to be a hostess instead of a cop. Sometimes, old beliefs die hard.
On a side note, I wonder if Fargo was trying to say Betsy's cancer was a metaphor for society challenging her preferred role as a women? Much like Lou in the show ponders if society and it's violence was causing his wife's cancer, could it not also be the changing times?
To complete my thoughts on Betsy, I did think the relationship between Lou and Betsy was wonderful to see - independent of trying to analyze deeper meanings to the show. The scene where she wakes up next to her daughter was exceptionally acted. With her eyes opening, you can see in a flicker how grateful she is to have one more day with her child. Brilliant. No huge monologue - just a look. Well done.
I also thought the scene when Lou received news on Betsy in the phone booth was touching. I'm not gonna lie, I teared up. Who wouldn't want a spouse to love us that much? Patrick Wilson hands down has all my votes for best actor.
While women's issues today are clearly not where they should be, it is still leaps and bounds from where it was in the 70's. Shoot, I was born in 1976 and I was not expected to go to college, but my twin brother was. My father was an electrician in Michigan and my mom was a stay at home mother. My dad was a very, very good person. However, it did not dawn on him that a girl would go to college.
Which leads me to the thread Fargo weaved. The expectations of women and their role in society changed heavily in the 70's to 90's. Betsy and Peggy reflect this. They reflect the most basic types of ideas for women. Betsy is content to be a stay at home mom. She's anglicized by the men around her. She is written as a good, wonderful woman. Peggy is corrupt and evil - she wants more than the town butchery. Betsy, despite dying from cancer, still takes care of her men. I love the scene in the finale when Lou and Hank come in the door. The expectation is, this woman, despite being on her deathbed, will get them a beer. Because they are men. There is no mutual back and forth in that regard - housework, meals, care-taking. It's almost like it does not occur to them to get their own. Does this make Lou and Hank bad men? No. But it was a subtle, quiet illustration of the thinking in the 70's. I thought it was very well done.
Now, on the flip side of that, Peggy wants more. She is not context with small town life, small town wife duties. While this alone would throw a wrench into things, she happens to also be completely nuts. She is completely irrational and delusional about how to go about gaining her independence. What the show does well, is exploit both what is right about her thinking and what is wrong. Peggy is right when she is in the car talking to Lou about expectations and feeling trapped. It was in fact, the time of Prozac for women to deal with their housewife blues. However, when Lou yells at her that people are dead -- he too is right. He's right to not coddle her delusions that somehow everything was fine because she only had the best intentions - you know, it just got a wee-bit messy in the end. Yet, I was left pondering how Lou, regardless of being totally justified in his no-tolerance attitude, was a little angry even at the thought of her notion? A woman? Working outside of the home? Wanting more than her small town? Yeah, fine, if she still manages her family, but never, ever at the expense of her womanly duties.
I think the beautiful arc to Lou, developed in season 1, is that by raising Molly by himself, he gained a new attitude toward the rights of women. Once he became a single father of a daughter, he only wanted the best for her, and she would not be restrained in a man's world. Well, even though Lou did mention to Molly in the restaurant that perhaps she might prefer to be a hostess instead of a cop. Sometimes, old beliefs die hard.
On a side note, I wonder if Fargo was trying to say Betsy's cancer was a metaphor for society challenging her preferred role as a women? Much like Lou in the show ponders if society and it's violence was causing his wife's cancer, could it not also be the changing times?
To complete my thoughts on Betsy, I did think the relationship between Lou and Betsy was wonderful to see - independent of trying to analyze deeper meanings to the show. The scene where she wakes up next to her daughter was exceptionally acted. With her eyes opening, you can see in a flicker how grateful she is to have one more day with her child. Brilliant. No huge monologue - just a look. Well done.
I also thought the scene when Lou received news on Betsy in the phone booth was touching. I'm not gonna lie, I teared up. Who wouldn't want a spouse to love us that much? Patrick Wilson hands down has all my votes for best actor.
Ed was such a touching character. I thought he was beautifully written and very well acted. His love for his wife was blind. He didn't want to see how unhappy she was. How she was desperate for more than what he thought was the idealized version of life. His storyline with Peggy was superb. In the end, Peggy still held onto the hope that she would somehow "make it out". Yet, what was so interesting was that she finally realized that Ed was a good man. He didn't need what she needed, but that didn't make him less. She thought so little of him when we first meet these two characters. Ed was a superb husband. In regards to our earlier conversation, unlike Lou, Peggy did work outside of the home. He wasn't so narrow-minded that she couldn't, he just wanted his dream, too. One could argue he put himself first, picking the butchery over her class, but that's a bit of a stretch. Compromise and fairness. That class she wanted to take would be there next year. His lifelong dream of owning the butchery was time sensitive. It illustrated just how delusional Peggy was. She was so warped in her thinking, she could not see that hers could wait. But that's what makes the interplay between Peggy and Ed so captivating. It's what makes Peggy so flawed. At the end though, Peggy realizes her hopes and dreams came at the expense of a good, good man. It was a flicker -- fleeting even, as the police car ride shows. She ultimately thinks it's all okay, what happened, because she was just trying to be more. A spilled milk sort of scenario in her warped mind.
As for Ed, he dies realizing that sometimes, you can't always make the other person happy. You can't make them understand that what they had was pretty great. I think what makes Ed fully "realized" at the end, to use Peggy's term, is that he doesn't want Peggy anymore. He's broken, and he's tired, and he's done.
As for Mike, that was fabulous. I have to assume that one of the reasons Mike becomes the type of criminal he does is because he doesn't want a desk job. He doesn't want to work for the man, a corporation, and, yet, what does the fruits of his violent labor yield? A horrible, claustrophobic office that oozes an inevitable soul-crushing existence for Mike. He helped destroy a family run business, albeit a criminal one, so that a corporation could be successful. The mob, which signifies anti-establishment, became just that, a corporation. Mike had assumed that he would be a leader, someone to be respected, a boss. No. He is still a runt. In almost every way, he is worse off. Well, he isn't dead, so there is that.
Corporate America, dissolving Midwest values, and greed (really, the 80's) has arrived for all, even for Mike and the mob.
Corporate America, dissolving Midwest values, and greed (really, the 80's) has arrived for all, even for Mike and the mob.
That is pretty much, again, the theme of Fargo season 2. The ushering in of a new era. We see it, highlighted in the Reagan appearance. It's a new world. It's the 80's. Bright Lights, Big City. Women desire more than to just be a housewife. Men coming home from Vietnam having to try and figure out how to function and be men. The war changed them, and the world itself is changing. The old ways are dying out, maybe even literally - a cancer on the old way of life.
Some rise above it. Ultimately Lou succeeds through his daughter Molly. Hanzee succeeds. He tears off the restraints of the past that expects little more of an American Indian than to be an errand boy. He becomes something more. He becomes the boss.
Others fail. The Gerhardts family run business is a thing of the past. Ed's idyllic life, a Norman Rockwell painting, destroys him and his marriage. Is that hope - to run a small business in a small town no longer a viable option?
Mike fails too. He tried to succeed in a business that no longer exists. The dream, his dream, no longer exists. The rug is pulled out from under him. Much like the Midwestern promises of work hard, stay at your job, and your company will come through for you in the end was all a lie. Pensions won't be there, corporations will get greedy, and the blue collar workers who thought they were doing it the right way - the way it was supposed to work, found out much like Mike Milligan, that the light at the end of the tunnel is an illusion. It will be extinguished just as you reach for it.
Fargo season 2 was the new world versus the old world & expectations breeding desperation. I loved every minute of it.
Great job cast. Each and every one of you did fabulous. A very fine entertainment product on all accounts. The writing, the directing, the cinematography -- superb. I look forward to your next installment.
In a perfect world, somehow we would see Patrick Wilson and Martin Freeman again. How great would that be!
Until next time!
Some rise above it. Ultimately Lou succeeds through his daughter Molly. Hanzee succeeds. He tears off the restraints of the past that expects little more of an American Indian than to be an errand boy. He becomes something more. He becomes the boss.
Others fail. The Gerhardts family run business is a thing of the past. Ed's idyllic life, a Norman Rockwell painting, destroys him and his marriage. Is that hope - to run a small business in a small town no longer a viable option?
Mike fails too. He tried to succeed in a business that no longer exists. The dream, his dream, no longer exists. The rug is pulled out from under him. Much like the Midwestern promises of work hard, stay at your job, and your company will come through for you in the end was all a lie. Pensions won't be there, corporations will get greedy, and the blue collar workers who thought they were doing it the right way - the way it was supposed to work, found out much like Mike Milligan, that the light at the end of the tunnel is an illusion. It will be extinguished just as you reach for it.
Fargo season 2 was the new world versus the old world & expectations breeding desperation. I loved every minute of it.
Great job cast. Each and every one of you did fabulous. A very fine entertainment product on all accounts. The writing, the directing, the cinematography -- superb. I look forward to your next installment.
In a perfect world, somehow we would see Patrick Wilson and Martin Freeman again. How great would that be!
Until next time!
**
You can find my other blogs here:
http://www.ihatemyback.com
http://www.madelinefresco.com
****
Madeline Fresco is a novelist who lives in San Diego. She is the author of CROSSED THE LINE, available for Kindle at Amazon.com, for Nook at Barnes & Noble, and as an ePub at other eBook retailers. You can also listen to her novel as a free, serialized audiobook at http://www.madelinefresco.com. Her second book THE CHOICE, is available on Kindle at Amazon. Her third book ANGUISH, is available for Kindle at Amazon.com
You can find my other blogs here:
http://www.ihatemyback.com
http://www.madelinefresco.com
****
Madeline Fresco is a novelist who lives in San Diego. She is the author of CROSSED THE LINE, available for Kindle at Amazon.com, for Nook at Barnes & Noble, and as an ePub at other eBook retailers. You can also listen to her novel as a free, serialized audiobook at http://www.madelinefresco.com. Her second book THE CHOICE, is available on Kindle at Amazon. Her third book ANGUISH, is available for Kindle at Amazon.com